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Friday, December 4, 2009

The New PWI Blog

Well, folks, we're getting into the 21st century. Hey, we're only 10 years late; cut us some slack! Anyway, we're very excited about the new Pro Wrestling Illustrated blog, and as long as enough people are as well, we plan on updating it every time one of our writers has something to say (which is often).

We'll have lots to discuss about the state of wrestling and what you can expect from PWI and The Wrestler/Inside Wrestling, so come back often.

Historically, we have been very stingy throughout the years with the "world title" label. There are have been several organizations that have pushed for that status over the years that seemed to fulfill the basic requirements that you listed, but ultimately did not endure the test of time.

Of course, the NWA has been around for more than 50 years. It has been at the top of the food chain and close to the bottom. And although we like their business model of tying together independent groups under their banner, and the whole might well be greater than the sum of its parts, it still does not bring them to the level of WWE's World and WWE championships and TNA's World championship.

It took us a long time to grant world title status to the old ECW, and that may or may nor have been a mistake. But note that even though ECW is a national brand, it is not recognized as a world championship by PWI at this point. Nor is the Ring of Honor title and a few others that are at least as important as the NWA title.

We urge patience for NWA fans. If things continue along the current path, there is a chance that we will change our thinking. But not yet.

I just want to know which championships PWI has given world title status to over the years. This would be a cool feature to put on the main site. I know the NWA was given world title status until 1991 and again from 2006 to 2007. Does PWI recognize all of TNA’s NWA title reigns as world titles or only those from 2006 and 2007? I know the ECW world title is only recognized from 1999 to 2001. Did PWI stop recognizing the WCW title as a world title after WWE purchased the company or are reigns by The Rock, Chris Jericho, and Kurt Angle considered world title reigns? How about the WCW International title and Japanese titles? Were they ever given world title status? I know this sounds like a lot, but I just want all this to be clearer. It would be great to have approximate dates for when the championships were awarded world title status and when it was taken away. Thanks for the help.P.S. That Triple H pic with the PWI plaque is pretty sweet. I’m surprised WWE allowed the pic to be taken. Frank